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BlinAI
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Testo

Dataset card Data Studio Files
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"I already knew that. My guess was that a lot of government craft weren't actually completing their listed Luna-Earth runs-"
"But, instead, were going from Tycho up to Perry City at the north pole, and then to the Far Side." Downing nodded. "So you went on a little walk-about and di...
"So it was a cover-up for some other operation."
"Yes. As you also guessed, we were manufacturing antimatter, using the twenty-four/seven solar power available at Perry."
"So once I got some solid evidence, you cryoed me: surest way of keeping me silent."
"Logical, but no; we approached you and explained the situation. And you agreed to sit on the story."
"Then why the hell did you coldcell me?"
"You were not put in suspension by us, but by Taiwanese security operatives that were-well, 'loaned' to us. They saw you preparing to enter my superior's suit...
"Why?"
Downing sighed. "Security blackout; we were on the Far Side. Only communiquis of national urgency."
"So they didn't know what to do with me."
"Well, we learned later that some wanted to kill you."
"Kill me?"
"Yes."
"Christ sakes-kill me over an antimatter plant?"
"No. Over what it was built to enable, which you had started hypothesizing shortly after your arrival."
Which put those hypotheses in Caine's one-hundred-hour dead zone, along with the other lost memories of his time on the Moon. But a vague recollection-perhaps...
Caine blurted it out before he confirmed his thinking. "Interstellar travel: you were creating the power supply for a starship."
Downing smiled. "Yes."
"And did it work?"
Downing leaned back, considered the windowless walls. "Rather. We are currently in the Junction system. Technically, it's still listed as Lacaille 8760. But o...
Caine had to focus-hard-in order to stay on track: "Okay: so now that interstellar travel is public knowledge, I'm free to go, right?" But even as he asked it...
Downing shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Ultimately, it was not the interstellar travel we had to keep a secret. It was the mere fact that you were coldce...
Caine understood. "Because then people would want to know who had the authority to put me in a deep freeze and get everyone to think I was missing, presumed d...
Downing nodded.
"Well, since you woke me up, you're obviously ready to answer the question if it comes from me: so, on whose authority did you coldcell me?"
Downing seemed to retract into himself for a moment: whatever was about to come out was apparently kept deep within. "I am-call it the executive officer-for t...
"And unofficially?"
Downing resisted the same retractile reflex he'd combated a moment earlier. "The Institute covertly coordinates the actions of, and analyzes data gathered by,...
Caine stared, then shook his head. "No, I don't buy that: intelligence organizations would never cooperate that closely."
"Not knowingly. Which is why IRIS exists: to provide an invisible intelligence locus that is aware of, and able to coordinate responses to, our new global cri...
"How can something be a 'global' crisis if only your handful of analysts are even aware of it?"
"If something endangers the whole world, then it's a global crisis-regardless of whether one or one million persons are aware of the danger."
"Okay, so what the hell caused this secret global crisis?"
Downing frowned. "Our first interstellar missions were extremely circumspect. And so we asked ourselves: if there's anyone else out here, wouldn't they explor...
"And now you've found something. Out here. And that's your new secret."
"Yes. We've received reports that point to the possibility of past exosapience on Delta Pavonis Three. But we can't investigate it with any of our contacts in...
Caine considered this rather surreal scheme and quickly arrived at three possible alternatives. Firstly, he might be hallucinating-in which case he had nothin...
If, on the other hand, he was not hallucinating, Downing could be either lying or telling the truth-but whichever it was, he and whoever he worked for were se...
Or, lastly, it was possible that Downing was telling the truth-in which case there was so much at stake that Caine could not, in good conscience, refuse. So a...
But damn it, Caine didn't like being impressed labor, and he didn't have to make Downing's job easy. So his answer took the form of a grudging mutter: "I'll t...
However, that attempt at gruff defiance came out pathetically slurred: "Althinka bowt."
Caine started, stared at Downing-and discovered the tall Englishman was becoming a dark gray silhouette, shrinking against the burgeoning, burning lights. "Wh...
And then the world contracted, sank, and he plummeted down into the black hole that it became.
MENTOR
Downing checked the monitors attached to Caine's chair as two orderlies eased the tall, unconscious American into a gurney.
"How is he?" asked Nolan Corcoran's voice from speakers hidden behind baffles in the debriefing chamber's matte black walls.
Downing nodded toward the concealed observation booth. "Passed out. Again. But he's doing better than yesterday. Pupil dilation and contraction rates are back...
"Did he recall any of yesterday's session?"
"No, nor of the two days before that. Riordan's brain chemistries were too imbalanced to form true memories. Until now, that is. Huzzah and hooray."